Double Cluster NGC 1850 in Dorado
author: ESA/NASA/Novapix
reference: a-aou18-50002
Image Size 300 DPI: 18 * 13 cm
NGC 1850, imaged here with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is an unusual double cluster that lies in the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. After the 30 Doradus complex, NGC 1850 is the brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is representative of a special class of objects -young, globular-like star clusters - that have no counterpart in our own Galaxy. The two components of the cluster are both relatively young and consist of a main globular-like cluster in the centre and an even younger, smaller cluster, seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old and the smaller cluster is only 4 million years old.